One of the hardest things to do is to decide what is best for a person you love that can no longer cope alone. Most family members in this situation have one of three choices;
Convince the struggling family member to move in with you and provide assistance yourself
Consider a retirement home or assisted living community
Consider home care assistance
The first option always seems the most attractive at first but this choice mostly end in disaster. Caring for someone with special needs is no simple task at all and can disrupt an entire family when they can no longer do the things or attend special occasions since grandma or grandpa cannot handle the stress of these activities. Then there is the entire issue of trying to get along in the same house, the conflict of social interests and the physical strain that some caring activities (bathing and more) has on those around them. Most elderly people soon grow quiet and feel like they are unwanted, unappreciated and in the way and the result is depression and regret.
Home care assistance or retirement homes is your best bet
It is much better for the struggling individual and for the rest of the family to choose between home care assistance and a retirement home because these choices provides grandma or grandpa with plenty of freedom, individuality and they can still socially interact with their own age group as well as family members. Now the big question remains; which is best?
Home care assistance VS retirement homes
Retirement homes or senior homes can be a terrific solution to some people. A lot of effort is put to care for those that can no longer do everything themselves and these retirement facilities are usually loaded with lots of senior activities. But here is why home care assistance is probably better;
They don’t have to sell their house. Seniors can continue living in the house and town they love so much.
They gain more individuality since they can still do everything they love, when they love to do it where retirement homes usually follow a strict program.
Home care assistance can be much more affordable than retirement homes, especially since seniors can choose the assistance they need whether it is just someone to help clean and cook or someone to provide 24 hour assistance.
For home care assistance, seniors can choose who is helping out. In retirement homes you don’t have a choice when it comes to assistants.
Home care assistance can be pretty good solutions to families with living in seniors because the assistant can do all the hard work while families can simply enjoy their beloved grandparent.
Home care assistance is a terrific solution to those that only need temporary assistance like seniors that are recovering from illness or those recovering from injury. They get the assistance they need, when they need it and can go right back to being individual and all alone whenever they are ready to take up all the tasks alone again.